The Northern Virginia Health Foundation gave an embattled community health clinic $150,000 to help keep it afloat for about two months after it lost its major funding source because of Prince William County‘s budget woes.
However the infusion of cash is not expected to prevent the Greater Prince William Community Health Center from shutting down this summer, unless more new money arrives.
“Believe me, the money will be put to good use, but we are still in danger of closing our doors,” said Dr. Adrienne Buggs, the clinic’s medical director.
The center is set to lose its $462,000 in county funding at a budget vote Tuesday, as county officials say the operation has never delivered on its promise to leverage more than $500,000 in federal funds. Without significant federal support, the clinic is not sustainable, supervisors have said.
The center’s locations in Woodbridge and Manassas have scaled back hours and services as its leaders “try to eke out an existence to the beginning of the fiscal year [in July],” Buggs said.
About 2,300 patients use the center, which opened in 2006 to serve residents who make too much money to qualify for the free clinic, but struggle financially and are often uninsured.
The foundation distributed nearly $1.1 million to the center and 10 others providing health care across the region this week, praising their “important work.”
“The organizations receiving funding are providing vital services to low-income, uninsured and underinsured people in Northern Virginia,” board Chairwoman Lisa Chimento said.
